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DECISION

Promulgating the Regulation on issuance of Certificates of origin, form aj, for preferential tariff Treatment under the Asean-Japan comprehensive economic partnership agreement

THE MINISTER OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE

Pursuant to the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement concluded on a rotation basis between ASEAN countries and Japan and signed by Vietnam on April 1, 2008, in Hanoi;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 189/2007/ND-CP of December 27, 2007, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Industry and Trade;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 19/2006/ND-CP of February 20, 2006, detailing the Commercial Law regarding origin of goods;

At the proposal of the director of the Import and Export Department,

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To promulgate together with this Decision the Regulation on issuance of certificates of origin, form AJ, for preferential tariff treatment under the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement concluded on a rotation basis between the ASEAN countries and Japan and signed by Vietnam on April 1, 2008, in Hanoi (see the Regulation and the attached Annexes, which are below collectively referred to as the Regulation on issuance of certificates of origin, form AJ).

Article 2.- This Decision takes effect 15 days after its publication in "CONG BAO."

Article 3.- The Office of the Industry and Trade Ministry, the Import and Export Department and concerned agencies shall implement this Decision.

For the Minister of Industry and Trade

Vice Minister
NGUYEN THANH BIEN

REGULATION ON ISSUANCE OF CERTIFICATES OF ORIGIN, FORM AJ

(Promulgated together with the Industry and Trade Minister's Decision No. 44/2008/QD-BTC of December 8, 2008, promulgating the Regulation on issuance of certificates of origin, form AJ, for preferential tariff treatment under the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement)

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Interpretation of terms

1. The ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (below referred to as the AJCEP Agreement) is an agreement concluded on a rotation basis between the ASEAN countries and Japan and signed by Vietnam on April 1, 2008, in Hanoi.

2. Certificate of origin of goods, form AJ, (below referred to as C/O) means a C/O issued by a C/O issuer to export goods satisfying requirements of this Regulation for preferential tariff treatment under the AJCEP Agreement.

3. Vietnamese issuer of C/O, form AJ (below referred to as C/O issuer), means import and export management sections under the Industry and Trade Ministry. The list of C/O issuers is provided in Annex 13 to this Regulation and may be amended or supplemented by the Industry and Trade Ministry at specific points of time.

4. Applicant for C/O, form AJ (below referred to as C/O applicant), means an exporter, producer or representative with a lawful power of attorney of an exporter or producer.

5. eCOSys means Vietnam's electronic system for management and issuance of certificates of origin, the website address of which is http://www.ecosys.gov.vn.

Article 2.- Goods eligible for C/O issuance

Goods eligible for C/O issuance means goods fully satisfying the conditions of origin specified in this Regulation.

Article 3.- Responsibilities of C/O applicants

C/O applicants shall:

1. Register trader dossiers with C/O issuers under Article 5 of this Regulation;

2. Submit C/O application dossiers to C/O issuers;

3. Demonstrate that their export goods satisfy requirements of origin and create favorable conditions for C/O issuers to verify the origin of these goods;

4. Take responsibility before law for the accuracy and truthfulness of their declarations related to C/O applications, even in case they are authorized by exporters;

5. Promptly report to C/O issuers in localities where they are located on the C/O issued by Vietnamese C/O issuers which are rejected by importing countries (if any);

6. Facilitate the verification by C/O issuers at production establishments or places where export goods are grown, cultured, harvested and processed;

7. Prove the truthfulness of the origin of export goods at the request of the Industry and Trade Ministry, C/O issuers or domestic customs offices or customs offices of importing countries.

Article 4.- Responsibilities of C/O issuers

C/O issuers shall:

1. Guide C/O applicants when requested;

2. Receive and examine trader dossiers and C/O application dossiers;

3. Verify the real origin of products when necessary;

4. Issue C/O when goods satisfy the requirements of origin in this Regulation and

C/O applicants comply with Article 3 of this Regulation;

5. Send specimen signatures of persons authorized to sign C/O and specimen seals of

C/O issuers to the Industry and Trade Ministry (the Import and Export Department) under the Industry and Trade Ministry's regulations for registration with customs offices of importing countries;

6. Settle complaints about the C/O issuance according to their competence;

7. Re-verify the origin of export goods at the request of the Industry and Trade Ministry and customs offices of importing countries;

8. Exchange information relating to the C/O issuance with other C/O issuers;

9. Send reports to and respond to other requests under regulations of the Industry and Trade Ministry.

Chapter II

PROCEDURES FOR C/O ISSUANCE

Article 5.- Registration of trade dossiers

1. C/O applicants may be considered for C/O issuance at places where they have registered trader dossiers only after they have completed trader dossier registration procedures. A trader dossier comprises:

a/ Registration of the specimen signature of the person authorized to sign the C/O application and the specimen seal of the trader (Annex 12);

b/ Business registration certificate of the trader (a copy with a true-copy stamp);

c/ Tax identification number registration certificate (a copy with a true-copy stamp);

d/ A list of production establishments (if any) of the trader (Annex 11).

2. Before the C/O application, any change in the trader dossier shall be notified to the C/O issuer where this dossier has been registered. A trader dossier shall be updated once every two (2) years.

3. In case of a force majeure circumstance or for a plausible reason, if wishing to get a C/O issued by another C/O issuer in a locality other than that where it has registered its trader dossier, a C/O applicant shall provide the appropriate reason in writing for the non-application for a C/O in the locality where it has registered its trader dossier, and register its trader dossier with the new C/O issuer.

Article 6.- C/O application dossiers

1. A C/O application dossier comprises:

a/ A C/O application form (Annex 10), which has been fully and duly filled in;

b/ The C/O form (Annex 7), which has been fully filled in;

c/ A customs declaration of export goods for which customs procedures have been completed (for cases in which export goods are not subject to customs declaration of export goods under law, this declaration is not required);

d/ The commercial invoice;

e/ The bill of lading;

In case the customs declaration of export goods for which customs procedures have been completed and the bill of lading (or equivalent document) are not yet available, the C/O applicant may submit these documents within fifteen (15) working days from the date of issuance of the C/O.

2. When finding it necessary, the C/O issuer may request the C/O applicant to supply additional documents related to export products, such as customs declaration of imported materials and auxiliary materials; export permit (if any); purchase and sale contract; value-added invoices for purchase and sale of domestic materials and auxiliary materials; samples of materials and auxiliary materials or export products; description of the product manufacturing operation with HS headings of input materials and those of products (for change in tariff classification (CTC) criteria or good manufacturing or processing operation criteria); or calculation of the regional value content (RVC) (for RVC criteria); and other documents for evidencing the origin of export products.

3. For documents specified at Point c, d and e of Clause 1, and Clause 2, their copies bearing the signatures and true-copy stamps of heads or authorized persons of concerned units or organizations, or signatures and stamps of notaries public, may be provided along with their originals for comparison.

4. For traders joining eCOSys, their persons authorized to sign C/O applications shall declare data via eCOSys, give their e-signatures and automatically transmit them to C/O issuers. After examining application dossiers on eCOSys, if agreeing to issue C/O, C/O issuers shall notify such via eCOSys to applying traders for submission of complete written dossiers for comparison by C/O issuers before issuing C/O.

Article 7.- Receipt of C/O application dossiers

When C/O applicants file their dossiers, record officers shall receive these dossiers. When the

C/O issuer requests supply of additional documents specified in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Regulation, a record officer shall notify in writing such request to the C/O applicant and make and hand a copy of the dossier receipt to the C/O applicant when the latter so requests. For cases in which an additional verification is required, the time limit for it must be clearly stated under Clause 2, Article 8 of this Regulation.

Article 8.- Issuance of C/O

1. A C/O shall be issued as soon as possible within three (3) working days after the C/O applicant files a complete and valid dossier, except for cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

2. C/O issuers may conduct verification at production establishments if they deem that the dossier examination provides insufficient grounds for C/O issuance or when they detect signs of illegal acts in connection to previously issued

C/O. Verifiers of C/O issuers shall make minutes of verification results and request C/O applicants and/or exporters to jointly sign these minutes. In case C/O applicants and/or exporters refuse to sign these minutes, verifiers shall write the reasons for refusal in the minutes and sign them for certification.

The time limit for issuing or refusing to issue a C/O in this case is five (5) working days after the C/O applicant files a complete dossier.

3. The verification must not impede the delivery of goods or payment by exporters, except for cases in which exporters are at fault.

Article 9.- Refusal to issue C/O

1. C/O issuers may refuse to issue a C/O in the following cases:

a/ C/O applicants have not yet registered trader dossiers under Article 5 of this Regulation;

b/ C/O application dossiers are inaccurate or incomplete as required in Article 6 of this Regulation;

c/ C/O applicants fail to submit documents they lack under Article 6;

d/ Dossiers contain contradictory details;

e/ C/O application dossiers are filed with offices other than those where trader dossiers have been registered;

f/ C/O forms are filled in by handwriting, or erased or improperly modified, or fade out and become unreadable, or printed in multicolor inks;

g/ There are lawful grounds to believe that products are non-originating under this Regulation or C/O applicants have committed fraudulent or dishonest acts in demonstrating the origin of their products.

2. In case of refusal to issue a C/O, C/O issuers shall clearly notify in writing reasons for refusal to C/O applicants within three (3) working days after deciding on refusal.

Article 10.- Withdrawal of issued C/O

C/O issuers shall withdraw C/O they have issued in the following cases:

1. Exporters or C/O applicants have forged any documents in filed dossiers. At the same time,

C/O issuers shall include the names of exporters and C/O applicants that have forged documents or made false declarations in a watch list of those subject to stricter inspection measures before

C/O issuance, and concurrently notify them to competent agencies for handling of the act of forging documents;

2. Issued C/O are not conformable with the origin criteria.

Chapter III

MANAGEMENT OF C/O ISSUANCE

Article 11.- Competence to sign C/O

Only persons that have completed procedures for registering their specimen signatures with the Industry and Trade Ministry for forwarding to the ASEAN Secretariat may sign C/O to be issued.

Article 12.- Focal point

The Industry and Trade Ministry (the Import and Export Department) is the focal point performing the following jobs:

1. Guiding and inspecting the C/O issuance;

2. Carrying out procedures for registering specimen signatures of persons competent to sign and issue C/O and specimen seals of Vietnamese C/O issuers with the ASEAN Secretariat, and forwarding specimen signatures of persons competent to sign and issue C/O and specimen seals of C/O issuers of the member states of the AJCEP Agreement to the Finance Ministry (the General Department of Customs);

3. Assisting the Industry and Trade Minister in solving problems related to the implementation of the Regulation on issuance of C/O, form AJ.

Article 13.- Reporting regime

1. C/O issuers already connected to eCOSys shall update information on C/O issuance on the system on a daily basis (even on days when they issue no C/O). Information updates must conform to standards set by the Industry and Trade Ministry.

2. C/O issuers not yet connected to eCOSys shall make monthly reports. Reports for a month shall be sent to the Industry and Trade Ministry no later than the 5th of the following month according to the date shown on the postmark or the date of sending e-mails. The report format and model reports shall be specified by the Industry and Trade Ministry.

3. If receiving no report from a C/O issuer five (5) working days after the reporting time limit, the Industry and Trade Ministry shall issue the first written reminder. If still receiving no report ten (10) working days after the reporting time limit, the Industry and Trade Ministry shall issue the second written reminder. If still receiving no report fifteen (15) working days after the reporting time limit, the Industry and Trade Ministry shall issue a decision to stop the C/O issuance by that C/O issuer and post the decision on its website.

Article 14.- C/O issuance fee

C/O applicants shall pay a C/O issuance fee to C/O issuers, which is set by the latter under the Finance Ministry's current regulations on fees and charges. C/O issuance fee levels shall be publicly posted up at places of C/O issuance.

Chapter IV

SETTLEMENT OF COMPLAINTS AND HANDLING OF VIOLATIONS

Article 15.- Complaint-settling agencies

Exporters and C/O applicants may lodge complaints with C/O issuers. These C/O issuers shall reply within three (3) working days. If not satisfied with replies of C/O issuers, complainants may further lodge their complaints with the Industry and Trade Minister or institute lawsuits at administrative tribunals under the law on complaints and denunciations.

Article 16.- Handling of violations

Any C/O-related fraudulent acts shall be handled under the Government's Decree No. 06/2008/ND-CP of January 16, 2008, on sanctioning of administrative violations in commercial activities, and relevant amending, supplementing or guiding documents. If causing serious consequences, violators shall, depending on the nature and severity of their violations, be examined for penal liability. In case their violations cause damage to interests of the State, agencies, organizations or individuals, they shall pay compensations for damage under law.

When detecting violations in the operation of C/O issuers, the Industry and Trade Ministry shall, depending on the severity of these violations, handle them under law and may terminate the

C/O issuance by these C/O issuers.

Article 17.- Implementation of the Regulation

Any problems arising in the course of implementation should be promptly reported to the Industry and Trade Ministry for settlement at the following address:

The Import and Export Department, the Industry and Trade Ministry

54 Hai Ba Trung street, Hoan Kiem district, Hanoi

Telephone: 04.22205444

Fax: 04.22202525

Email: co@moit.gov.vn